Brenda Van Meter Honored with Award from National Weather Service

Brenda Van Meter of rural Sanford KS was presented with the John Campanius Holm Award by Larry Ruthi, Meteorologist-in-Charge of the National Weather Service forecast office in Dodge City, on Wednesday, September 26th. This award was named in honor of John Campanius Holm, a Lutheran minister, who was the first person known to have taken systematic weather observations in 1644 and 1645 in the American colonies. Each year, around 25 cooperative weather observers nationwide are honored with the John Campanius Holm Award for outstanding accomplishments in the field of cooperative observations. Mrs. Van Meter was also presented with congratulatory letters from U. S. Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran and U.S. Representative Tim Huelskamp.Also, in attendance for the presentation were Brenda’s husband David and Jesse Lee, Observing Program Leader at the Dodge City office.The Sanford observing site was officially established in April 1954 by Brenda’s mother, Thelma Darnell.The station first began as a river reporting station.Brenda became the primary observer in 1973 with her husband David as her backup.Brenda reported the river stage on the Pawnee River near Sanford until 2005.Since then, Brenda has reported daily precipitation and snowfall information to the National Weather Service. (Photo by Jesse Lee, OPL NWS Dodge City KS)